


Beyond Reality

by AmidalasCouture



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Eldritch, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22891873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmidalasCouture/pseuds/AmidalasCouture
Summary: Leia has a secret plan to get rid of Lord Vader.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 66





	Beyond Reality

It has been a trap. A well thought out trap plotted for months and carefully prepared by the rebels. Utmost secrecy had been part of it, even more so than normal. Everyone involved was tight-lipped and knew that and the littlest mistake would cost them their life. 

But Leia Organa had personally led this effort. In her white dress, standing straight and rigid, she had told them in a somber voice:

_ "If he falls, the empire will fall." _

The princess of Alderaan before it had turned to dust and rubble aimlessly drifting through space was small in stature, yet in this movement, the graveness of her words made her taller than the highest mountains. 

_ "He is the galaxies boogeyman's. Without him, this tyranny of fear cannot prevail. " _

No one had interrupted her speech, their tongues tied and their heartbeat quickened. Not even a vibroblade would not cut the tenseness of this meeting.

" _ Man or man-made machine, Vader is mortal. A man can bleed, a machine can be cut apart. This is the way of life and we will prove them wrong." _

Every one of these missions had forfeited their life. Their bait had been simple but effective. To catch mice one needed cheese and there was no tastier cheese than Luke Skywalker for Vader. 

Of course, Leia had told Luke nothing. She loved him dearly, like a brother even, but he was too naive, too goody two shoes.

Now, she watched from far away, as the trap closed.

___

  
  


The Dark Lord arrived on a single black shuttle. He was alone, the heat readings suggested though Vader himself did not show up on the readings. ' _ Maybe he really is a droid.' _ , thinks the Princess. There were all kinds of quirky droids on the market that seemed more empathetic than the Dark Lord. 

She held her breath as he deboarded. Seconds ticked by, then she raised her voice as her gaze watched like a hawk.

"NOW!"

As soon as she said those words, the rebel officer beside her pressed the button. There was an electric fizzle, then a deafening bang. 

Everything went dark.

The ion cannons had been fired off. In an effort to leave no ground covered, they had targeted the whole facility and grounds. Vader had no way to escape, the same as them 

They were all trapped on this planet, trapped until enough graves have been dug to finish Vader. 

_ "Let him be a droid.",  _ prayed Leia. If Vader was a droid, then this was it. But that would be too easy. 

The lights on Vader's suit had shut down, the heavy breathing stopped. It was silent as the rebels watched the unmoving figure. Hope, doubt and everything in between flickered in their hearts.

One of the rebels lost his nerve, abandoning his position behind a Boulder, he shouted:

"He is dead."

The euphoria on his face froze though. Vader's head had moved towards him, no eyes were seen but the dark lenses terrified him to the core. Vader raised his hand and turning it into a fist he crushed the man's windpipe.

"Fire!"

Hell broke loose. The rebels in preparation for the ion blast had brought slug throwers. Aiming them at the Dark Lord, they shot. They shot, over and over again until they were bereft of the munition or of their life. 

Even the slug munition was stopped by the red saber, cut into two before it reached its target. Not all of them though. 

Leia herself had a rifle in her hand. She took a deep breath, calming herself. The slight tremble in her hands stopped. 

_ 'May the force be with me' _

She was no Jedi, no Luke, but she still had faith in the force. The metal of the slug thrower grew warm in her grip. She took aim, let her mind clear of anything else. When she felt it was right, she waited for that moment. The window of opportunity arrived and with an adamant heart, Leia pulled the trigger.

Her shot pierced the helmet, shattered it into pieces. It stopped Vader in his track, the red lightsaber missing the incoming slag. Bullet after a bullet ripped through the armor that was built to resist plasma and lasers.

Rounds after rounds we're shot, bullet after a bullet pierced the torso. It seemed wasteful but despite it all, they only brought Vader down in his knees.

"Stop!" 

Leia ordered. The rebels listened. The loud noise of the slug throwers diminished to nothing. The sound though rang in their ears for far longer, unlike plasma and lasers, slug throwers recoiled with each shot and boomed loudly. 

Vader kept kneeling, his body did not fall over. 

"No one is allowed to approach. I repeat, no one leaves their position."

She had a bad feeling but bit her tongue not saying it out loud. For all it is worth, Vader should be dead. The ion blast should have killed everything mechanical, the slag should have ripped his skull, his organs apart. There is no way anyone could be alive. 

The cough ringing out across the courtyard was filled with laughter, dark and ominous.

"No.", whispered Leia," _ No." _

In despair, she watched the form of Vader move with every cough he did.

Darkness gathered, slithered on the ground. Like vines, it grew towards the Dark Lord. They watched horrified the abyss building in Vader. Darker than the void of space, colder than the nights of Hoth and hotter than Tatooinian winter at the same time, bright stars like a universe littered his being.

The armor burst apart and left was a black hole, a cosmic cloud, something beyond their imagination.

"This has to be a nightmare."

Leia whispered. The rebels quivered and she herself felt a tremor run through her body. Tentacles of darkness shot from Vader's body, they pierced through durasteel and stone without effort, killing all rebels in the immediate area. Yes, a nightmare comes true. A nightmare and they were trapped on this goddamn planet with it. 

She doesn't need to give the order as panic broke out in their ranks. Officers and soldiers leaving their posts to run for their life. Someone, Dimmund, grabbed her arm and she stumbled after them.

_____

It did not matter how far they ran. In the end, Vader got them all. Leia's clothes were dirty and torn, her breath ragged and her limbs burned with pain. She could go on no longer. Dimmund has been lost to the creature, to whatever Vader was.

_ "Run Princess.",  _ he had said. " _ I will try to hold him up. You are our hope, you need to survive." _

Leia could not fulfill Dimmunds request. The escape vessels were on the other end of this planet so that they won't be affected by the ion blast. The trap had worked, but it had been them who had been trapped. 

She had survived Alderaan, she had lived through torture. Yet only now she allowed herself to cry. Leia had not cried after nightmares in a long time, but this one…

She wished Luke was here, to hold and soothe her. To shoot down Vader in the same impossible manner he had the Death Star.

But Luke was not here because she had kept it secret of him.

The abyss was there, Vader had arrived. By now the tentacles had formed a human form, they were moving along it, shifting the galaxy they bore.

Vader did not kill her directly, he stared at her from a thousand eyes and beyond. She could not see then, yet she felt them linger on her. He kept still.

By then, Leia had regained her composition. 

"What are you?"

Vader did not attack her yet he also did not answer. It's as if he could not explain himself. 

"Then why do you serve him?"

Before she dies, she at least wants to know this. Vader was one of the pillars of the empire and she wants to know why. Why does Vader serve the tyranny because besides doing whatever the Emperor says, the other did nothing? He was completely the loyal attack dog of the empire.

This time, Vader did answer. 

"I am bound by the contract of the master."

Somehow she thought, it was not a normal work contract. The way he worded it, the tint of his voice. 

The unnatural way of his existence. She had never met an alien-like him. 

"Sidious Master summoned me. I am bound by the seal to do as he bids. ".

" You are not of this galaxy."

Not like them. Maybe he was born here, but he defied nature and laws. He was something beyond, he was the abyss, the stars. Maybe she could find entire planets and civilizations within him. 

"Maybe not. I was born of a mother though."

He admitted. Whatever made him talk instead of killing her, she guessed it was a blessing. 

"A mother.."

It was strange to think of Darth Vader as a child, to think of this terror as anything other than it was. But Leia guessed he had to come from somewhere. 

The abyss reached out, its tentacle extending towards Leia. Her first thought was to scramble away from it, but she dismissed. The way Vader extended its tentacle to her was tentative. She felt that it did not mean harm in a strange way. 

It touched her cheek carefully. 

Vader hissed as if burned by the touch a second later. The deep growl ' _ he lied'  _ echoed from him with searing anger. It was as if he had talked directly to her mind.

Vader released an anguished cry. " _ He has to die." _

With wide eyes, Leia looked at him, trying to figure out what he has seen, what he meant. She had no idea though. "Who?", she asked. 

Vader knelt down in front of her, from within the abyss of his being fell stars like tears to the ground, shattering on impact. 

"I am so sorry my child. I am so sorry. "

Leia did not know what to think. Here was their nemesis, killer of millions and terror of the galaxy, kneeling before her, pleading for forgiveness. Anger dwelled in her chest and a question burned at her mind.

"Why?"

_ 'Why me, Vader.  _ ', but nothing could have prepared her for the answer. 

"I am your father."

  
  
  
  



End file.
